Department of Bioethics

The KCU Department of Bioethics faculty are highly qualified, experienced and accessible to students. Students receive a broad orientation to the interdisciplinary field of bioethics, including both philosophical and religious ethics, as well as contributions from the social sciences and medicine. The program prepares students to deal with critical ethical issues, such as stem-cell research, genetic engineering, end-of-life care, health-care equity and public policy, the globalization of medicine, and the relationship between environmental quality and human health.

Why Bioethics?

These are miraculous times in health care. Hospitals throughout the nation are at the cutting edge of medical sophistication. Advances in science and technology have produced life-saving capabilities that could not be envisioned a generation ago.

Hospitals have become the place where sophisticated technology and clinical care transform lives. It is where hearts are kept beating, cancers are combatted and organs are transplanted. Unfortunately, the moral, ethical and human sides of health care are often overlooked in this high-tech culture.

This is where the mission and values of bioethics, the humanities, and the social sciences come into play — each, with their own special insight, establishes a framework for understanding the importance of whole-person care, humanism and patient-centeredness in medical practice and education.